BIRLA'S BIGGEST BATTLE

As Kumar Mangalam Birla completes 30 years at the helm of the Aditya Birla Group, he has a battle to defend his businesses and conquer new ones

- Ayaan Kartik

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairperson of the over 160-year-old Aditya Birla Group, made the vision for his businesses clear. Speaking at an event in November, the 57-year-old industrialist minced no words and announced, “We want to be No. 1 or 2 in every business that we are in or get into. So, like they say, scale isn’t everything, but it’s the only thing.”

When Birla took over in 1995 after his father’s untimely death, there were doubts whether the young scion—he was only 28 then—had it in him to be aggressive and capture new markets. From just a $2bn turnover in 1995, the textile-to-telecom conglomerate’s listed firms crossed $100bn market capitalisation in May 2024.

However, there are signs of competitive headwinds in the horizon.

Birla’s companies are mainly up against Gautam Adani-led Adani group and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL). Though comparatively new in India Inc, these two business honchos are known to cripple competitors in their respective sectors which include telecom, ports, media, green energy and airports among others. The capital-heavy groups, with market cap of over Rs 12 lakh crore (Adani) and Rs 18 lakh crore (RIL), are opening their purse strings to venture into newer areas.

Push Forward

With the Union government planning to spend Rs 11.1 lakh crore on infrastructure this fiscal, there has been a renewed interest from various business groups.

“Cement, metals and financial have been areas where the conglomerate [Birlas] has a significant presence. As the competition is intensifying, the group will have to respond to protect its market share,” says Suresh Srinivasan, professor of strategy and accounting at Great Lakes Institute of Management.